Mortgage Prisoners Inquiry Bill [HL]
Debate between Lord Sharkey and Earl of Effingham
Lord Sharkey (LD)
My Lords, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have supported the Bill and the wider effort to bring justice to mortgage prisoners. In particular, I thank the noble Earl, Lord Lytton, the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle, the noble Lord, Lord Altrincham, and the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Chelmsford for their contributions at Second Reading. I also thank my invaluable colleague Dominic Lindley. The Bill may be leaving us now, but the campaign for relief for the mortgage prisoners will continue.
The Earl of Effingham (Con)
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Sharkey, for his tireless work on proactively raising awareness of this issue and continuing to maintain that dialogue. The nearly 200,000 individuals trapped as mortgage prisoners will be thanking him as he keeps up the momentum. People who are unable to secure better mortgage terms for a whole range of reasons often suffer challenging financial hardship and its detrimental knock-on effects, particularly in a world of heightened interest rates as a result of the many geopolitical risks of the past few years. This issue is a well-documented problem that has its roots largely in the 2008 financial crisis.
His Majesty’s Official Opposition understand the frustration of mortgage prisoners across the country, and we support the noble Lord, Lord Sharkey, in his efforts to bring the challenges mortgage prisoners face to the attention of His Majesty’s Government, with a view to finding a resolution to this long-standing problem. These challenges are ruining lives:
“It’s a constant, daily battle to get up and get on with the day knowing that at the end of it there’s nothing to show for it other than being able to maintain the roof over my head”.
It is only right that your Lordships’ House continues its work to raise the profile of this issue.
When we debated the Bill at Second Reading, we raised concerns about the lengthy nature of inquiries, and we hope that the Government will seek resolution as swiftly as possible. We should not risk delaying that process.